


Sweet Irony

by Endeering



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Assassination Attempt(s), Childhood Memories, Childhood Trauma, Eventual Happy Ending, F/M, Family, Food Poisoning, Friendship, Happy birthday Claude/Khalid, Minor Original Character(s), slight angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-25
Updated: 2020-07-25
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:48:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,093
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25497106
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Endeering/pseuds/Endeering
Summary: Claude loved birthdays. They were informal feasts in his youthful eyes, with decorations adorning the walls and guests bearing gifts of varying shapes and sizes for the birthday host. He and his parents would often visit his cousins to celebrate with them. He was always ecstatic to be a part of the festivities and sneak in bites of sugar-coated confectioneries when his family wasn’t looking.It wasn’t until his eighth birthday when he started to despise them.
Relationships: My Unit | Byleth/Claude von Riegan
Comments: 2
Kudos: 33





	Sweet Irony

**Author's Note:**

> Happy birthday to my sweet sunshine Khalid/Claude!
> 
> This fic was inspired by Claude not really liking the sweets in the dining hall like most of the students do so I'm exploring that here and how it affects his perception of his birthday over the years.
> 
> Don't worry, I'm ending this fic with a wholesome and fluffy bang but I'm not adding the tags for those just yet!

**_Harpstring Moon, 5/18/1180_ **

“Happy birthday, Raphael!” 

The birthday boy guffawed as he shoveled down another helping of Noa fruit cake Lysithea had baked for the occasion, alongside some other sweets that Claude occasionally caught when she snuck in bites of them during her late-night studying. The house leader couldn’t help but grin fondly as his Deer started up some conversations about Raphael’s life back home, Ignatz occasionally chiming in with his own anecdotes of their travels together with their families. He and Byleth watched from the ends of the dining hall table, amused at the spectacle of Raph knocking over his drink right onto Lorenz’s uniform in the midst of his storytelling. Mortified blatherings from the noble was music to his ears and sent him into a fit of chuckles.

Claude loved birthdays. They were informal feasts in his youthful eyes, with decorations adorning the walls and guests bearing gifts of varying shapes and sizes for the birthday host. He and his parents would often visit his cousins to celebrate with them. He was always ecstatic to be a part of the festivities and sneak in bites of sugar-coated confectioneries when his family wasn’t looking.

It wasn’t until his eighth birthday when he started to despise them.

* * *

**_Blue Sea Moon, 7/24/1170_ **

“Happy birthday, Khalid!”

The crowd cheered for him and his parents and Fareena, his older sister, beamed with pride at his side. It was his very first birthday party held for the public as he was finally old enough to celebrate with more than just his family. The ballroom of the Almyran palace was furnished with silks and gold adornments along the window frames and the national flags lined the pillars of the grandiose room, the emblem of an Almyran bow warrior woven with golden threads. Tables of food and drink were pushed up against the walls on all sides and children sat in circles on the colorful cushions placed beside them, playing with toys as they feasted on cookies and rock candy. From his seat at the podium, he could see all kinds of headscarves and shawls weighed down by the jewelry and precious metal that hung from them. A symbol of wealth and refinery, as gaudy as it was to wear to a child’s party. 

After the guests returned to their amicable chatter, Fareena stooped over his head, her dark braids falling on his shoulders. “Is my little brother having fun?” she asked, pinching his cheeks and laughing as he attempted to shoo her hand away. She ruffled his hair and accidentally loosened his green and gold headscarf, to which Khalid groaned in frustration when one end of it fell over his left eye. 

His mother then stepped into his peripheral, holding his face in her hands and kissing his cheeks. Tiana shot a playful glare at Fareena who straightened up and stepped back with her hands up as the queen unwound the headscarf and wrapped it again. “Happy birthday, _azizam,_ my dearest boy. You’ve eight now and already so handsome,” she whispered before standing up again. His father, Rasheed, wrapped his arm around her and placed a hand on Khalid’s shoulder, a joyous smile on his face. 

“Happy birthday, my son. You’ll grow into a stalwart prince soon enough and I could not be more proud,” said Raheem, patting him on the back. Khalid felt his heart warm up at the loving words from his parents. 

Fareena, refusing to be the odd one out, tilted his head up to place a kiss on his forehead and mumbled, “I wish you good health and luck for years to come. We’re working together to rule, little brother.” 

Khalid, feeling mischievous now that his sister was no longer teasing him, leapt to his feet and startled her in the process. He looked back at his family and smirked before calling out, “No way, that’s your job” and running into the mass of guests. He could hear his parents laugh and Fareena shouting his name in between breaths of laughter as he wove between people, the occasional curious glance sent his way until he found himself beside one of the dessert tables near the entrance. A couple was already there, discussing something in hushed tones. They wished him ‘happy birthday’ and turned back to their conversation as if he was no longer there.

Whimsically, Khalid turned his head toward the group of kids laughing by the other table next to this one. As the prince and heir of Queen Tiana, he didn’t have many friends growing up. His green eyes were strange, the other kids would say, different from everyone else in Almyra. Anyone he did meet and got to know eventually turned their backs to him as he was shoved out of the conversation or belittled for his mixed blood. Even the parents would look on as if it was harmless child’s play for kids to lock each other up in guest rooms, or abandon them to wander the streets alone at night. 

Shaking himself free of the miserable memories, he reached up toward a plate of sugar cookies and plucked a few from it to munch on their crunchy goodness. After finishing them, he reached for a few more only to feel the smooth table cover beneath his fingers. Puzzled, Khalid jumped up to see that the plate was nowhere to be seen. ‘That’s weird,’ he thought. ‘There was still a lot more left when I got some. Maybe a servant took them?’ 

Shrugging off the inconvenience, Khalid turned on his heel to search for more when deep verdant green filled his vision. The boy looked up to see one of the servers holding a platter of sweets in his palm.

“Ah my prince! I did not expect to see you here. Were you looking for these?” the server asked, bending down to Khalid’s height to hold the plate of cookies in front of him. Khalid nodded excitedly and took one from the top of the pile. The server nodded with a smile and set the rest of them on the table top before disappearing into the crowd. 

Khalid took a bite, the powdered sugar falling off the treat like sand. This one tasted different than the ones he just had. Bittersweet, like some of the medicines Fareena brewed for him when he refused to ingest the bitter drinks made by their physician. 

‘Yuck, this is gross,’ he gagged, coughing out some of the failed confectionery. ‘The chef tried his best,’ he mused sympathetically as he searched around for a bin to dispose of it. The prince stood on his toes in a vain attempt to look between the milling groups of guests talking amongst themselves. When he couldn’t find one, he started to wander around the room, quick on his feet as he was impatient and frustrated to not see one immediately. 

Something was wrong as soon as he took a step.

After several paces, he started to breathe heavily as if he had been running laps around the palace. Khalid stopped to catch his breath, heaving huge gulps of air into his lungs yet feeling no reprieve from the tightening in his chest. He could feel his heart start to beat faster and faster, an incessant drum that had him clutching at it through his elaborate robes. His head started to pound in time to his heart too as it suddenly became dead weight. Unable to hold himself up anymore, the boy collapsed onto the floor, his muscles seizing up and his insides churning as he felt bile crawl up his throat like a cobra slithering through tall grass, ready to strike at its prey. 

The last thing he could see through the darks spots clouding his vision were the people around him backing away in fear.

The last thing he could hear was his mother screeching in horror and Fareena’s light footsteps rushing toward him.

“ _Khalid!!!”_

* * *

“Claude?” 

The future duke blinked several times in confusion. ‘That’s not my name,’ he thought as he looked up to the woman beside him. Byleth stared back at him, her stormy blue eyes unnervingly calm.

‘Ah, that’s why. I’m ‘ _Claude_ ’ now.’

“Yes, my _deer_ professor?” he joked in response, hoping to distract her from having witnessed his less-than-subtle stroll down memory lane. He mentally slapped himself on the forehead. It wasn’t common for him to let his guard down like that, even in front of his class. Old habits die hard, as the saying goes. It was either them or him, and he wasn’t one to leave his life in the hands of luck and chance. 

Byleth ignored the pun and carried on with her question. “Are you alright? You haven’t had any of the cake since we started cutting it.” She gave a quick glance at her own almost-empty plate then looked at him again, this time an inquisitive gleam in her eyes. He avoided her gaze, instead opting to look down the table. Some of the deer had already retired to their rooms and only Raphael, Leonie, Ignatz, and Lysithea remained, the latter ignoring their conversation in front of her as she reached for another slice of cake. 

The house leader hesitated to provide an answer. The cyanide cookies, later discovered to have been placed by that servant, weren’t an isolated case. Since then, he’s had multiple near-death experiences from treats laced with toxins and masked with sugar. Most notably, these deadly delicacies were usually sent around the time of his birthday. By the time he was 15, every single box of them was immediately thrown into the trash, birthday note and all. Even the tone in those letters gradually became more bitter and caustic with every year he “celebrated”.

That wasn’t to say he didn’t trust the Deer. Just that it was harder to work up an appetite for foods that could’ve been his last meal.

Not wanting to voice his thoughts outright, he simply settled with “I don’t really like sweets.” He leans in closer to Byleth with a hand to her ear, but still deliberately says, “Don’t tell Lysi but they’re not my favorite.” 

The girl in question shot up from her the tome she was perusing with a heated glare. “Ugh, don’t call me that.” The two look at her. “I’m not your sister and I’m not a child,” she firmly remarked, picking up her book and clearing her side of the table. 

“Aww Lysi, don’t be like that. You’ll always be the fawn of our golden herd.” Claude smirked in amusement as she didn’t deign to reply before stomping out of the dining hall.

Byleth sighed and turned her attention back to him. “I’ll make a note of your preferences for your birthday then. Is there any food you want instead?” 

He waved his hand absentmindedly. “That won’t be necessary, Teach. I don’t really celebrate so you don’t have to plan anything for it.” 

Her brow twitched almost imperceptibly at his flippant response. She then leaned her head against her fingers in the way she always did when she was pondering something. It was rather endearing to see that close up, if he was being honest with himself. 

“Are birthdays not a call for celebration for nobles?” 

Claude shook his head. “It’s not that. I’m sure you overheard Hilda or Lorenz talk about their parties when we were planning this one.” She nods at that. “I just find it a bit frivolous for my birthday to be such a big deal. I can’t carry out my schemes if all the attention is on me right?” He winked for good measure. 

“I suppose.” She paused for a moment. “You and I are alike in that regard. Without the schemes.” 

“I’m sure we’ll find more mutual things to bond over when the time comes, Teach. If you’re up to having more little talks like this.” Byleth hummed in agreement. Feigning exhaustion, Claude stretched his arms and stood up. “Well, I think I’ll head off to bed. It’s getting late now. You coming too, Teach?”

“I’ll stay a little longer to help clean up. You go ahead. Good night, Claude.”

He bid good night to his classmates as well and stepped out into the cool evening air. Claude internally sighed in relief and began walking towards his room. However, before ascending the stairs, he looked back at the dining hall and the doorway he came through.

‘We aren’t alike in that regard, my dear Teach. You don’t care for your birthdays. I fear mine.’


End file.
